Connection, but Alone?

Sherry Turkle believes that people are getting excited about technology, but taking it to all the wrong places. She explains how when we are together in the same area, we aren’t REALLY together: aka, the people in the same area are on their phones and giving their full attention to social media, or some animated game. Alone together is an idea in which individuals are together but hey would rather be on their phones, which is really a whole other place all together. Also, technology and the easy access of it all, makes it so much easier for us to hide from each other behind texts and insincere “connections” that allow us edit what we say before we say it. This makes our conversations via typing far from having a true connection with people, but we kid ourselves to believe they are. Turkle’s other main points include that we as humans are tempted by machines that offer companionship meaning we will jump at the chance to be heard by a robot rather than by  human who will actually listen to us. We feel as though no one hears us or understands our problems, but a robot that is designed to engage in companionship and conversation will. And that leads us to expect more from technology and less from each other: we glamorize technology so much because it’s an escape to what’s in front of us from our problems around us in real life.

What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness.

Speaker Robert Waldinger is the 4th director of the longest study of human happiness, which shows how long the study has been going on. It has been going on since the 1930s and it follows the lives of two groups of men: one group who went to Harvard University and then served in World War II, and the other group from the some of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston. The purpose of the study was simple:  to find out what made humans successful and happy. the answer has been discovered: relationships. Good, strong, deep relationships with others will lead a person to a happy life. And one doesn’t need to have 100 relationships or consider the more relationships the better. No, it’s all about the quality over quantity. Plus, good relationships keep individuals happy AND healthy. People in their 80s who were in a relationship filled with love and affection and a feeling of support tended to have sharper memory than those 80 year olds who had been in relationships void of affection. This research shows how important it is for young people to focus on making strong connections with those around them, and how it can lead to a long, happy life.